Robin Hood

Duty bound to review and comment, I somewhat reluctantly went to see Robin Hood. Well, I must admit, I have, to say the least, mixed emotions. First of all, I want to apologize for I remark I made previously comparing Russell Crowe (unfavorably) to Errol Flynn. Having seen Russell Crowe at his best, I have forgotten who the other guy was! (Sorry Errol, Crowe really, as one professional critic said, "inhabited the part.") The scenes between our hero and Cate Blanchette are fabulous -- marvelous, great chemistry between two top notch actors, worth suffering through the over the top abundance of really noisy violent warfare (lots of horses galloping and snorting, bows and arrows flying all over the place, battering rams knocking down castle doors, burning down of places that wouldn't pay taxes to evil King John). The bad guys are really bad. There's teachery and betrayal , plus, of course, heart tugging loyalty. During a lot of the battle scenes I couldn't tell who was who, and which side anyone was on -- except, fortunately Robin rode a white horse, and that was helpful . Otherwise, it was a lot of shouting, blood, and dying nobly. Knowing that this was a prequel, I didn't worry about Robin and Marion getting killed. Splendid casting included Max Van Sydow as Marion's father-in -law. And the lovely woman who played King John's mother -- sorry I don't recall her name, but she was perfect. Lest I forget, great performance by William Hurt. There was a lot of switching from one locale to another (conveniently indicated by subtitles) -- so, for history buffs, perhaps useful. Anyway, the Magna Carta was not signed by the time I left the theater. Maybe there will be a sequel to this prequel? Bottom line of my experience: I didn't want the movie to end! So I guess my tolerance for violence isn't entirely gone after all.